It didn’t take long for the humans to panic. Government had been spiraling out of control for 60 years, fueled by greed and corporate corruption. Mankind had finally taken all it could from the earth, until the earth had nothing left to give. The humans had long embraced the idea, live for today and take what you want. The cries of those who recognized the consequences of such behavior were left to the minority and written off as crazy. Men had convinced themselves they were invincible. Once the Nelson Report came out, and Amazon’s infrastructure collapsed, people began hoarding resources and grabbing all they could for themselves. Telecommunications were quickly shut down, and in less than 18 months, the US population had been cut by over 75 percent. Riots, fires, murder, starvation and sickness spread with very little resistance.

As life has always demonstrated, sometimes it takes the loss of one thing to gain another. Ironic and painful as it was, it took man’s near destruction of the earth to bring about a new relationship between man and animal as it was in the beginning of time.

The Rider has not survived in the new world these past 5 years because of his strength, or because of things taken. He has survived because of relationships. Primarily a relationship with his bear and with nature. These things, which were seen as weak and useless before, have now become what is held most precious in the dark days.

This picture just makes me happy. I feel like I say that a lot, but I have been staring and laughing at this portrait for weeks now. I don’t think Nichelle is going to let me frame it in the house just yet, but I figured I could at least share it with you on the blog. This is one of those images that I don’t really want to talk about very much because I feel like it is enjoyed best as it is, without spoiling it with too much information.
A very big thank you and congrats goes out to my wonderful model in this portrait and my good friend Sara Coates. Obviously she is extremely talented, but she also just landed her first major roll in a major motion picture called Laggies. Go Sara!